Music reviews in plain English.

Mmoths: Luneworks

We’ve been bathed in a warm sea of happiness this week in the Review Corner, thanks to some lovely music across several genres.

Mmoths’ Luneworks is one. Yes, it’s ambient, which too often denotes hoochy Zen background music sold in wacky shops that believe lumps of rock can make you emotionally stable. Or Clannad. Ugh.

There are exceptions: Steve Hillage’s Rainbow Dome Musik is fantastic or even The xx or James Blake. Jack Colleran, who is Mmoths, has produced another. It’s got enough impetus to have the appearance of rhythm so it moves forward and while there’s a lot of swooshing and sighing on the synths, it’s meaty and upbeat. It’s deeper than deep house.

As soon as it came on we started feeling much better about the world. There’s a movie about a happy but solitary spaceman just waiting to be made around this.
The downside is that you put it on to play and while you’re thinking of what to say about track one, it’s played to track five without it being really obvious where one stopped and the next started. However: You has some kind of robotic voice toning gently under swooshing waves of synth, the crests of which have hard edges, giving a little bit of edge and development.

Deu is gentler but with a nice keyboard sound, while Phase In has a more spaced out intro. Para Polaris almost has a beat and some quite strident sounds and is almost a dance tune.
Excellent.